The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-06-01
QUACKS OF OLD.
Surgeon General Hamilton Tells About
Some Notable Cases.
THE WashfRytOn Star

John Ii. Hamilton, Surgeon General of the
Marine Hospital Service, in his address to
the graduates of the medical department
Of the University of Georgetown, at their
commencement last Monday night. He af-
fects to despise the labors OF the past, al
though he daily makes use of their
fruits. He arrogates to himself knowl-
edge superior to every one Of his time
end especial superiority over his associates;
but he takes care never to add anything to
the general stock of medical information,
by divulging any Of the great secrets of
which be alone is the possessor. These
characteristics have belonged to the char
lstsn in all ages so far as contemporary
history has limned his portrait. There is
one difference between the ancient and
modern charlatan, and that is, that owing
to the existing state OF science and the
many morbid processes unknown gener-
ally, the ancient queck was frequently able
to stumble on some physiological TACT or
especial line of treatment.
Asclepiades, who fourished in the first
century of the Christian era, may be taken
as a primal type of the charlatan. He treat
ed the writings of the past with contempt;
Hippocrates' system OF medicine was nick
named q study of DEATH" He rejected
publicly the various classes of medicines
that bad Tome down to him from the past
ages, but he handed down his name to pos
terity by applying the atomic theory then
prevailing in physics to medicine, and he
founded a medical school. Astrology ,
tbeosopby and uranoscopy were later vari
atoms, and it is not little curious that we
slll see advertisements announcing that
such-and-such person casts natiYities and
treats cases by the aid of the stars.
Ursnoscopy seems to have been a sur
vival of the ancient pageant custom of
divination from inspections of the tissues
of freshly killed animals, for as that GUS
tom finally was overtime wn by the increase
of knowledge, 1t was deemed necessary to
come somewhere near the human body in
ascertaining Its condition. During the
reign of Justinian indignities were every
where heaped upon the followers of "a
tional medicine. The medical school at
Athens was destroyed, and throughout the
Roman Empire legitimate medicine and
the study of anatomy was suppressed-so
far as official orders could do it.
Laying on of hands, charms, relics and
superstitions OF ell sorts, lncantations and
the like, were the means resorted to for the
cure of disease and the prevention of cpl
denies. 1t was then that the Arabian
schools sprung up through the influence of
The HISTORIANS and legitimate medicine was
transferred to the Arabs. 1t was the age OF
intolerance; the slightest differences be-
tween Christians gave rise 70 internecine
feu6s ana bloody wars, and when Rome
was overTun by the barbarians nearly every
vtstige of medical learning based upon
anatomy was ex.in guished III Europe.
The ecclesisstios ,hen took up the study
in secret. and nearly 1000 years elapsed
befo, the truths of medical science were
again brought forward.
The Arch qusck Paracelsus did the world
some service by reviving interest in chem
isfry and overthrowing alchemy. Hisgen.
Al
wen by the most modern QuackS, with all
the aid that the age of leaders can give
them. His real name was Hohenheim.
and he was born in Zurich, but as soon IS
he had imbibed smattering of the effect
of chemicals on the human body he
imagined himself the wisest of man.
kind and gave himself the name,
by which he has since been known,
OF Paracelsue, or Phillipus AureOlus The0-
phratus Bombastus Paracelsus. he was,
the speaker said, drunken scouudrel, but
then, as now, there were hundreds of men
who viewed this habit as an und0ubted evil
dence of genius of the highest order. He
claimed that reading never made physi-
cian-that countries are the leaves upon
which natures laws ere written, and pa
ueDts are my only books" 1t should be
remembered to the credit of Paracelsus that
at this time the general habit of the medi'
casters OF the Gay was TO put very llLLle
medical truth in vast deal of astrology
and so.called climatology, by which each
hour was assigned a particular force on
each organ of the body, according to the
decision of the horoscope. Among the
Chinese at this period, and perhaps long
previously, this belief was universal. The
sign most important to observe was the po-
sition of the moon. When that romantic
satellite was found in the sign of the Ca
No 10 ~ ivaT cd f0in
with the greatest effect, and her copjunc-
ton with Saturn absolutely forbade the
use of medicines by rendering them nuga-
tory, especially purgatives.
Theosophy, with its mind cures and the
mystic rites of the Rosicrucians, seems al
most to reach the extreme limit of absurd
ity. This singular sect was instituted by
Father Rosenkreutz. in Germany, early in
the fourteenth century. The exact date is
unknown, and, although their existence
was known at the time, they seem to have
well preserved their secrets. They, how
ever, became almost extinct until the year
1915, when the society was revived, and
printing being general, their secrets
were no longer kept The neophytes
swore fidelity, promised absolute Sc.
cIscy AID sSCre IN hieroglyphics The
the Egyptians, the magi of Persia, gymno-
sopbists and Brahmins of India. and all
sncient oriental lore, were embodied In
their teaching. They also claimed, in imi-
tation of the Masonic fraternity, that much
of their information was handed down by
| King Solomon to King Hiram at the con-
struction of the temple. II is probable
that many golden grains of truth were
contained in the doctrines of orien talism,
but these were for the most part the sheer
est nonsense.
1t is one of the duties of the medical
profession to set their faces against these
superstitions and denounce them.
1t is somewhat singular. DR.. Hamilton
said, that the art or war-the science OF
destroying mankind-has been preserva-
tive of legitimate medicine. Each COM
mender, while anxious to destroy his
enemy, is quite as anxious to preserve the
vigor of his own force; consequently we
find that armies have early made efforts to
eliminate the charlatans from their med1-
cal staff. The pages of history glow With
accounts of the exploits of particular char
latans, but singularly enough, although
large proportion of the human family seem
to love dearly to be bunbuggei !, they sell
dom like to mention it after they have ex-
perienced the consequences of their folly.
One of the most noted quacks of the last
century was certain DIR. Graham, who